Tour de France champion still on track for Giro d’Italia despite recent collision with car
Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) will not be set back much by the accident that saw him knocked off his bike by a car last month, according to coach Shane Sutton. The Tour de France winner reportedly suffered fractured ribs and a dislocated finger after a car pulled out in front of him, but he has travelled to the island of Mallorca to start a ten day trining block as he prepares to take on next season’s Giro d’Italia.
“I think he's probably more hungry now because the challenge is greater,” said Sutton, according to the Guardian. “He's more hungry but the expectation isn't as big. Taking away the expectation has been fantastic and, off the back of that, he'll have a great Tour anyway.
Wiggins became the first British rider to win a Grand Tour in 2012; and retrospectively became the first Tour de France podium finished after Lance Armstrong was disqualified from the 2009 race. As a keen student of the history of the sport though, and to add some more depth to his palmares, he has turned his attention to next year’s Giro d’Italia.
“He wants to do a great Giro,” he added. “He wants legendary status and to win the Giro would help that.”
Sutton described Wiggins as being “not in bad shape”, despite his collision, and not having raced in almost two months.
“Our strength and conditioning people have put together a good weights programme for him, he's been running a bit,” Sutton explained. “He's got two massive seasons behind him so he is a different animal now. You can take a little out of what he's got and there is still a lot left. Eight weeks is going to get you pretty close to where you need to be.
“If you've got three months to work with an athlete who is in pretty good shape, you can do a lot.”
Sutton was also knocked off by a car earlier this month, on the morning after Wiggins’ collision, and suffered concussion; Team Sky principal - and British Cycling performance director - Dave Brailsford spoke his the shock, as he heard of the two incidents.
“I was worried about Bradley, obviously,” he told the Guardian. “You hear he's been knocked off and he's OK, but he was hit pretty badly and he went right over the car. I've never been properly hit by a car but from what I gather people say, when you go right over a car it's a lot more scary and makes you think about death.
“Same for Shane,” he added. “He might laugh and joke but it makes you think, for sure. It's quite a deep experience, I think. It was a shock.”